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WDMI-FM
'''WDMI-FM (97.1 MHz FM, branded 97.1 The Ticket) is a sports talk radio station in Detroit, Michigan. WDMI-FM's transmitter is located in Downtown Detroit & transmits it's signal from an antenna 891 feet in height with an effective radiated power of 70,000 watts. WDMI-FM 97.1 can be heard as far north as Lapeer County & the Flint area. The station begins to sound unclear & with more static this far north. WDMI-FM is the flagship station of the Detroit Lions, Detroit Red Wings, Detroit Tigers & Detroit Pistons. It also carries syndicated programming from ESPN Radio, as well as LIVE (non-Detroit) NFL games from across the country via NFL on Westwood 1 History Early history The station that would become WDMI-FM began broadcasting as an experimental Apex AM station called W8DMI in 1942. In 1944, the station ceased broadcasting while owner WMFL Corporation (the parent company of 950 WDMI) waited for the FCC to approve it's move to the newly created FM band. Approval came in late January of 1948 & on May 10th, 1948 the station (now renamed W45DM) signed on @ 44.5 MHz with 5,000 watts of power, becoming the 1st FM radio station in Michigan & the 7th in the United States. When the FCC created the new 88-108 MHz broadcast band, W45DM was moved to 96.9 in September of 1948. By that time, the station had settled on it's present 97.1 home as WDMI-FM, originally simulcasting WDMI-AM Joy 97 In 1981, WDMI-FM's format remained Beautiful Music. In that time, WDMI-FM enjoyed consistent top 10 showings in the Arbitron ratings through most of the rest of the 1980's & even reached #1 12+ in the Arbitron results in the spring of 1984 book @ a time when the beautiful music format was becoming endangered in other markets. However, most of the station's listeners were older than the demographics usually courted by advertisers & thus by 1988, the station had become more contemporary-sounding, playing more Soft AC artists & softer rock oldies with fewer instrumentals & with new-age & smooth jazz titles replacing some of the traditional orchestral-based instrumentals. By 1993, WDMI-FM was essentially a Soft AC station Star 97 Losing the Adult Contemporary battle, WDMI-FM became "Star 97" in September of 1994 & featured a 1970's oldies/classic rock format. WDMI-FM positioned itself as "The Greatest Hits of the '70s", although the station did branch it's playlist out somewhat into the late '60s & early '80s. WDMI-FM was also Detroit's outlet for syndicated morning show host Don Imus 97.1 K-Rock/LIVE 97.1 Free FM WDMI-FM switched it's format to Active Rock, as "97 Rock" (later taking the on-air identifier "97.1 K-Rock" in June of that year). "K-Rock" caught the ears of fans of harder rock & metal. Ratings continued to be less than impressive & in late August of 1998, WDMI-FM repositioned itself as "Extreme Radio" with it's format evolving toward Hot Talk. By March of 1999, the majority of the station's music programming on weekdays was gone & the station soon took on the name "97.1: Detroit's FM Talk Station". This was later changed to simply "97.1 FM Talk". During this period it carried syndicated talk shows such as Loveline, The Tom Leykis Show & Mancow's Morning Madhouse, as well as local shows. WDMI-FM relaunched as "LIVE 97.1" in May of 2003. In August of 2004, WDMI-FM became the flagship radio station for the Detroit Lions. In October of 2005, WDMI-FM added the "Free FM" identifier. Once Howard Stern left for Sirius Satellite Radio on January 3rd 2006, WDMI-FM began simulcasting Rover's Morning Glory. Rover continued as the morning show until September of 2006, when low ratings led to a switch to syndicated Opie & Anthony Detroit's Sports Powerhouse/97.1 The Ticket On October 1st 2007 @ 3:00 PM, WDMI-FM ended it's 8-year run as a hot talk station, in favor of an all-sports format, starting with "The Sports Inferno". On November 6th 2007, 97.1 FM changed it's name again from "Detroit's Sports Powerhouse 97.1 FM" to "97.1 The Ticket". Another change was the names of the midday show "The BIG Show" & the afternoon show "The Sports Inferno". Both of the shows names were dropped & now the shows are named by the hosts' last name. A few months later, current morning show "Motor City Mornings" changed the name of the show to "Detroit Sports Mornings". On February 5th 2009, 97.1 The Ticket acquired the rights to become the Detroit Pistons flagship station starting in the 2009-2010 season. 950 WDMI will cover Pistons games which conflict with The Ticket's coverage of Lions, Tigers or Red Wings games. Should 3 teams play simultaneously, 97.1 FM will carry 1 of the games separately & in the unlikely event all 4 teams play @ the same time, the 4th will air on another WMFL Corporation-owned station such as WDMI. 97.1 The Ticket currently ranks @ #3 (6.0) in the Detroit market according to the March of 2010 PPM Ratings release. The Lions & 97.1 The Ticket renewed their partnership for 5 more seasons on October 9th, 2009 Programming lineup Local Weekdays The current lineup (as of July 18th, 2011) is as follows *'The Morning Show (6:00-10:00 AM)' *'The Midday Show (10:00 AM-2:00 PM)' *'The Afternoon Drive (2:00-6:00 PM)' *'The Evening Sports Shift (6:00-10:00 PM)' Syndicated *'Late Nights & Overnights (10:00 PM-6:00 AM):' ESPN Radio Weekends Weekend programming includes Lessons on Golf, the best from the weekday shows & syndicated programming from ESPN Radio